


Iron Seed

by enkelimagnus



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Era, Canon Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Flashback, Honestly this is mostly about Meliorn's punishment for helping Clary, Mention of Alec Lightwood - Freeform, Nightmare, Punishment, Seelie Customs, Torture, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 13:18:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16388444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enkelimagnus/pseuds/enkelimagnus
Summary: Following Making Amends, set post 2bIsabelle wakes up to being in Meliorn's bed, and Meliorn has a nightmare about the Queen making him a Knight.





	Iron Seed

**Author's Note:**

> In which Seelie Knights are just disobedient Seelies being sentenced to eternal servitude.
> 
> This is definitely for AlterEgon for highkey inspiring this.

Isabelle woke up as the birds outside started singing. It was the first real sign that she hadn’t spent the night at the Institute, something she scarcely remember ever doing. The bed she was sleeping on was deep and comfortable, and she felt like she couldn’t ever leave it. 

The second sign - or third if you counted the delightfully soft bed - was the man in her arms. She hadn’t slept like that for a long time. It had happened once with Alec when she was withdrawing from yin fen. He’d taken care of her and they’d both fallen asleep, in her sweat-soaked Institute sheets. 

Alec and her had a history of cuddling when either of them was troubled. She remembered long nights in Alicante, whispering secrets to each other. She remembered her first loves and her first heartbreaks, and how it always ended up with them sleeping next to each other. They were both so much older now, but the night she’d spent recovering in her big brother’s arms had been the most comforting one. 

Izzy liked physical intimacy. She liked touch, and she liked cuddles, and arms around her, and hugs, and burying her face in the crook of the shoulder of someone she loved. She’d never really had that with Maryse, but she’d had that with Alec. Alec who always let her be the big spoon, even if she knew he preferred when he was big spoon himself. 

He lived with Magnus now. Slept there almost every night, and when he wasn’t there, he crashed for a couple hours on the couch in his office. A part of her wanted to turn back time and go back to the nights spent together. The other part of her was glad he had someone else to see him sleep-ruffled in the morning. How his smiles were slow and wide and relaxed, for those few stolen minutes when he forgot the world outside. She knew Magnus appreciated them, and that was all that mattered. 

Meliorn shifted a little in her arms and she pressed her face a little closer to his back. The stem from his neck was starting to extend down his back. She had never really seen him with such… obvious reminder of how deeply Seelie he was. When they’d cut the leaf from his face, it was as if his body had started fighting harder to prove that he was one of them. They were beautiful, and so incredibly…. Meliorn. Green and also metallic in a way. 

He didn’t talk about that day. She wished she’d been able to stop him from sacrificing himself, but she knew his honor. She also wished she’d told him what he meant to her when they parted, to each face their fate. She pressed a small kiss to the end of one of the vines. 

His entire body shuddered. A soft whimper escaped his lips and she moved back immediately. He’d always enjoyed when she kissed the leaf on his cheek, but maybe something had changed that made her attention to the vines hurt him. In any case, something was happening and it wasn’t normal.

Meliorn had fallen asleep easily, too easily, and he should have been conscious that there would be some sort of consequences. It was often as if his own mind was playing against him, and punishing him for even thinking he could get some rest. 

_She was standing over him again. The Queen. Beautiful and deadly, and he knew he deserved whatever he was going to get. He deserved to be dragged in front of the Queen by two Knights with unmoving faces. They said all the Knights were previously disobedient Seelies. They said that the price for treason was death or knighthood._

_He wished for the former. Knighthood was too cruel. He didn’t want to be one of the Knights. He didn’t want to be twisted like they were. He would never be able to have his own life for himself, if he became a Knight. It was better to die than to live prisoner of her magic and her will._

_“You have made a regrettable choice, Meliorn,” she spoke, and it froze his very being._

_Meliorn didn’t look away as the two Knights pushed him to the floor of the throne room. He just watched her. Her eyes were icy, and gleaming with a cruel light._

_“I’m sorry, My Queen.” He replied._

_“Do not speak.” She hissed. Her servants were behind her and by her sides, all staring at him as intently. All juries to his trial. “You betrayed the biggest secret of the Seelies. You betrayed your Queen’s trust and laws, and you did not kill the mortals you entrusted with the secret.”_

_He knew what he had done. He knew the wrong in it. He didn’t think he would change his choices. He’d done these things with the knowledge of the punishment that would befall him. He just wished for the mercy of death._

_“I would have killed you if it had only been two mortals.” She said, her lips forming into a cold smile. “I would have killed you if it had been two werewolves, or vampires, or mundanes. But you told Shadowhunters.”_

_“Please!” He didn’t realize he’d spoken, until the smile fell from the Queen’s lips and fury swallowed the coldness in her gaze. She wasn’t going to kill him. She was going to Knight him._

_“I thought you were not going to speak again, Meliorn.” She hissed. “Knights. Prepare for Knighthood.” She ordered._

_Vines wrapped around his legs, and his wrists, keeping him still. He couldn’t run. He didn’t even know where to run. Being the Queen’s slave was his only option, since he didn’t have the opportunity of dying. He struggled against his bounds, but the vines grew thorns that buried into his flesh. He whimpered._

_“You know the fate of those who disobey, Meliorn.” The Queen added, and the Knights were quickly back with a long, curved ceremonial knife, and a small seed, marked with metallic grey veins. Meliorn started struggling more, uncaring of the blood that now seeped from the thorn wounds on his wrists._

_“My Queen, I’m begging you!”_

_“It’s too late.” She said sweetly, and one of her servants presented her with gloves so her skin wouldn’t be in contact with the iron in the seed. The Knights were seemingly too used to the pain of it to have any care whether their bare skin touched it or not._

_One of the Knights grabbed Meliorn’s hair, tugging his head to the side so the leaf growing on his cheek would be revealed. He tried to fight back, to get away from the knife that was approaching his skin, but to no avail. Soon, the metal was grazing his cheek._

_“Meliorn.” the Queen started. “Your betrayal of the Seelie Court can only lead to one fate. You will now be stripped of your personal vines. Knights, weed him out.”_

_The knife dug into this skin, cutting it to get to the vine under the surface and start weeding it out. They cut the leaf off first, and started cutting his skin on the sides of it to get through all of the stems. Meliorn tried not to scream. He tried to be as strong as possible as they cut out the vines that had grown for most of his life. The knife was covered in dark green blood, as it cut and carved into him._

_It took so little time. Soon, they were at the last anchor, and the Knight that was weeding him out placed his thumb, to hold the vine between it and the knife. He then pulled the knife away suddenly, effectively tearing it out of him. Meliorn couldn’t contain the scream that came out of him._

_The Knight gathered the vines he’d cut out and put them in a bowl, presenting it to the Queen. The Queen inspected them quickly, before nodding and her servant approached with a burning torch. Meliorn could only watch, and scream again, as they set fire to his vines. He felt it down to his core. He felt himself burn with the plants, felt his soul break in pieces._

_The rest of the Court was silent. Meliorn had never seen a Knighthood happen. He knew the silence around him was a sign of great pain to come. He tried to brace himself._

_“This Seelie has been sentenced. This Seelie will now be Knighted as a Knight of the Seelie Queen.” The Queen announced, and took the seed from one of the Knights’ hand._

_The one next to Meliorn approached the knife again, but this time, he cut into Meliorn’s neck. The Queen walked towards him. He’d never been this close to her in his entire life, and he would rather have never been this close._

_“Receive the Iron Seed now.” She said to him._

_He felt it be placed into the wound on his neck. He felt the seed taking anchor into his flesh, and the iron start to burn. He felt it start to grow slightly, enough to wrap around his nerves. It was just an itch for now. It would be worse later._

_The Queen moved away from him, green sparks of her magic working to heal his face, neck and the wounds from the thorns into perfect, permanent scars. “Take him to the Knights' barracks, and get him ready. I have an audience with a Warlock scheduled, and I want my full guard to be here.” The Queen said._

_Meliorn barely realized that the vines were gone. He was dragged to the barracks by two of the Knights. They let him go next to a pile of the armor he was supposed to wear. He hit the floor painfully, and woke up immediately._

There was daylight and he wasn’t in the barracks anymore. The vines were burning still, the low kind of burning he’d just gotten used to since he’d received the seed.

“Meliorn?” She called out and he shuddered as he heard his name be spoken. No one called him Meliorn in the court. He was just another nameless, emotionless Knight. Only the members of other Shadow Realms called him by his name. 

He turned to her. Isabelle was worried and he could see it. He didn’t know what to tell her to reassure her. He didn’t even know how to reassure himself. He was always going to be in pain this way now. He didn’t reply to any of her questions, just brought her closer to him and wrapped his arms around her waist. With his face pressed against her chest, he could almost feel her heart beat. 

Izzy held him tightly against her. She’d seen the pain and fear on his face after he’d woken up. She wished for a second she could take it all away.


End file.
